Why are so many atheists pro-abortion-rights?

I'll comprimise. I don't like the term entirely, but it'll do. Just like there are pro-gun-rights and pro-gambling-rights (and there used to be pro-slavery-rights).

Is it just for the sake of disagreeing with the religious? Is it because they see being anti-abortion-rights as being a strictly religious viewpoint? Are anti-abortion-rights atheists worried about fitting in? Is it just a coincidence?

Its not my conscience, its not your conscience, its the conscience of those immediately involved. They are already in a difficult situation without a bunch of do-goodnicks poking their noses into what is, and should always be, a private matter.

No, its not for the sake of just disagreeing with the religious. That kind of statement lowers the godless to the status of the class troublemaker in school.

Hi Creature,
Leaving it to the Doc to decide is certainly an easy way to deal with the question, but there's more to resolve then convenience. We hire docs as technical experts to give us their educated and experienced advice. Counter to common usage, docs can't give us Orders, they can only make suggestions.

I am personally "ProChoice", right up until the moment the fetus becomes a neonate (at its first unaided breath). However, I do understand that some consider independent life to begin earlier. On a scale of immoral actions, where rolling through a stop sign is near the bottom, killing someone is near the top. IF one really believes that, say 3rd trimester abortion is murder, should they react by choosing to let the doctor decide?

I do not have an answer that satisfies even me. I agree that having babies is not a rare or skilled action - there is no shortage of people. Abortion is certainly often the most expedient solution to a problem and it's always easy to make more people if needed. But expediency, although ultimately dominant, is not a satisfying philosophical answer. Where we have a reasonable choice, expediency seems more appropriate to dealing with running a stop sign then with killing a person.

And to reduce this healthcare right down to "just for the sake of disagreeing with the religious" is well, trivializing and insulting. This right is much more complex and essential to a woman's control over her fertility and autonomy than that.

And no, I don't think there is any coincidence that more religious are anti-choice than atheists. The patriarchal mind-set in all religions encourage this mentality. Women are seen as inferior and chattel thus, they are subjugated to the rules of the males. And if they can control a woman's very body through legislation all the better. They seek to make a woman's biology her prison and they the wardens.

In [American] politics, "pro-" means "supporting the right to". I'm against gambing, but I still think people should have a right to gamble if they want to. I am pro-gambling. "Pro-choice" would mean "in favor of the right to choose" in general. However, this is overly broad, as "choose" is a transitive verb. Chose what? "Pro-choice" groups don't go around protesting every company merger (choice of product), traffic law (choice of how to drive), and rfusal of ballot access. "Pro-life" is a genuine ideology covering the right to live (an intransitive verb) in general. However, when speaking specifically of abortion, one is pro- or anti-.

I disagree with your analogy here. You are not pro-gambling under your definition, you are pro-choice with regards to a person's right to gamble. You do not support the 'act' of gambling in and of itself, rather, you support leaving that decision up to the individual.

The phrase 'pro-choice' has entered the American lexicon and is generally assumed to refer to the abortion issue, thus, I do not find it a broad statement. If however, you get confused, merely asking for clarification can go along way. That is why there are thousands of words in the English language for specification on any topic.

Again, I will assert that 'pro-choice' and 'anti-choice' are the most accurate in describing positions taken on this issue.

I have no right to tell another what to do with their body. Not even a wife, lover, daughter, sister, mother. "Pro-choice" means that I don't want the will of the state imposed on any woman's reproductive power. I can be personally opposed to abortion from a philosophical standpoint and still vote to prevent state-mandated highjacking of female reproductive power.

Pro-reproductive rights...supporting the right of a woman to choose whether to be pregnant or not. Motherhood as a choice, not an obligation.

Pro-choice is choosing to terminate a pregnancy without people meddling in a woman's private medical decision. Privacy is something religious folks don't often tolerate very well in my opinion. Women having independent autonomy threatens those on the conservative end of the spectrum.

If folks want to care about human life, they should care about the people that are already born...not potential humans. There's enough suffering people on this planet that are OUTSIDE the womb.